Television Notes; NBC Tries Again With a News-Magazine Format

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Although ABC and CBS have seen their faith in the news-magazine format rewarded with long-running programs that generate substantial ratings and profits, NBC's efforts to produce a successful news magazine have resulted in television's longest-running exercise in futility.

Since NBC initially attempted a news-magazine format with "First Tuesday" in 1969, the entries have included such quickly obsolete names as "Weekend," "NBC Magazine," "1986," "Prime-Time Sunday" and "Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow."

But after its last efforts -- "Real Life With Jane Pauley" and "Expose" -- were pulled from the air last year, NBC decided it was time to get truly serious about finding a news magazine that could do for NBC what "60 Minutes" had done for CBS and "20/20" for ABC.

So tonight at 10, the network is trying again, with "Dateline NBC," a program that combines some of the elements from those last two attempts -- including one of its anchors, Jane Pauley (the other is Stone Phillips) -- and that brings in the kind of staff and production expertise the network says it has never had on a news-magazine program.

Michael G. Gartner, the president of NBC, expressing confidence in the program, cited the money and resources that have been dedicated to "Dateline NBC," but freely admitted the most important factor in his positive feeling was the commitment the new program has received from the network management.

For the first time, an NBC news magazine has the unreserved backing of the network, represented by a promise from NBC's president, Robert C. Wright, that the show will have at least 52 weeks on the air to find an audience and, most crucially, by the fact that it has been given the best possible time period.

Previous news-magazine programs have demonstrated that there is a strong appetite for news programs on week nights at 10. ABC's "20/20" has flourished at that hour on Fridays. CBS's "48 Hours," which struggled at 8 P.M., has become a hit at 10 on Wednesdays. And ABC's "Prime-Time Live," after initially falling on its face, has emerged this season as a force at 10 on Thursdays. All three news magazines have improved their ratings this season.

That left two week nights open, but Monday night was ruled out because of N.F.L. Football on ABC, dependable movies on NBC and the position of "Northern Exposure" on CBS as television's highest-rated drama.

Tuesday at 10 was clearly the last ideal spot.

ABC has committed itself to a third news magazine in the fall, but that one will be on Sunday nights at 7, against the most powerful competition in television, "60 Minutes."

News magazines are produced for about two-thirds the cost of an entertainment hour, but their real value lies in the fact that the network owns them and that unlike entertainment shows, they can continue indefinitely.

Jeff Diamond, the executive producer of "Dateline NBC," was hired away from a position as senior producer of "20/20." He said he twice declined earlier offers to produce an NBC news magazine because "I just didn't believe there was any real commitment."

"Dateline NBC" is making no claims about reinventing the news-magazine format. Indeed, it will do pretty much what the others do: three stories a week. "The key is always the storytelling," Mr. Diamond said.

Like the other successful news magazines, "Dateline" will try to land big, news-making interviews, Mr. Diamond said. Back to 'L.A. Law'

Though he initially said he was coming back to "L.A. Law" only as a more active consultant, Steven Bochco, the leading producer of television drama over the past decade, has resumed a role as executive producer of the NBC series.

Mr. Bochco received his first executive producer credit in four years on "L.A. Law" last Thursday, sharing that title with Rick Wallace. Jim Gordon, a spokesman for Mr. Bochco, said yesterday that Mr. Bochco would continue to take the executive producer credit for this season's six remaining episodes of "L.A. Law."

Mr. Bochco left "L.A. Law" after he signed an exclusive contract with ABC in 1987. He currently has two shows on ABC, "Doogie Howser, M.D." and "Civil Wars," and has begun work on a new drama for ABC for next season, "N.Y.P.D. Blue."

But when "L.A. Law" struggled both in its storytelling and the ratings early this season under a new executive producer, Patricia Green, Mr. Bochco and David E. Kelley, the executive producer who followed Mr. Bochco, agreed to take a more active role in the production.

At the time Mr. Bochco was not expected to resume the full hands-on production role on the show. Yesterday Mr. Bochco confessed he had changed his mind, Mr. Gordon said.

The USA Network, which has been among the most successful cable networks, will announce today that it has acquired the Sci-Fi Channel, an all-science-fiction programming cable service, which has been struggling in its efforts to establish itself since it was begun in early 1991.

The Sci-Fi Channel has been offering programming that its president, Mitchell Rubinstein, identified as science-fiction movies, comic book, fantasy and "non-violent horror." It has included such fare as the more than 1,000 episodes of the original daytime serial "Dark Shadows," the old movie serial "Flash Gordon," which starred Buster Crabbe, and compilations of movies featuring such science-fiction stars as Boris Karloff.

A version of this article appears in print on March 31, 1992, on Page C00019 of the National edition with the headline: Television Notes; NBC Tries Again With a News-Magazine Format. Order Reprints|Today's Paper|Subscribe